The Next Day...

Let me preface this post by saying I am a graduate of the University of Michigan...at Dearborn, so although I don't feel the pain quite as bad when a team from Ann Arbor loses, I'm still not happy. Of course as the Bucks "PR Guy" I'm sad whenever a school one of our guys plays for loses. Its amplified though with Michigan because not only do we have 6 current or former Bucks players on the Wolverine roster this year but also two Bucks Hall of Famers, Steve Burns and Paul Snape coach the Maize and Blue.

Steve Burns (middle) and Paul Snape (right) watch the Wolverines in their 2-1 win over UC-Davis on Tuesday

For those unfamiliar, Steve Burns was the Mid-Michigan Bucks first coach from 1996-1999 while also serving as the UM Men's Club Soccer coach. When the UM program took on varsity status in 2000, Burns was elevated to lead the Wolverines fulltime and left the Bucks in the process. Burns was inducted into the Bucks Hall of Fame last July when we played back in Saginaw against Indiana, a game we won 5-1. He's the Bucks all-time winninest coach, going 53-25-2 in his four seasons at the helm.

Paul Snape was one of two Bucks to be original inductees into the Hall of Fame in 2006 along with Tino Scicluna (more about him later). He played for the Bucks from 1997-2003 and holds numerous records. In the US Open Cup he has scored more goals (5) and played more minutes (971) all-time than any Bucks player in history. In 2005 he coached the side to the PDL Quarterfinals.

Of course I got all this great information from the new Bucks History section located on our website. (shameless plug for all the work I did). Let me know if their is something you'd like to see that isn't already there.

Crows coming to roost...

With all that said, I need to eat crow as I predicted a 2-1 Michigan win last night and they ended up bowing out 3-0. Watching the match online, I thought it wasn't as one-sided as the score says and thought the Wolverines dominated the first quarter of the match. After IU scored 34 minutes in Michigan had a hard time breaking through on goal and got caught offsides a number of times. With the Wolverines pushing for an equalizer, Indiana caught them out to take a more comfortable 2-0 lead and with the game all but over added a third late.

Indiana was the better team and seem to be playing their best soccer of the season at exactly the right time. They'll visit St. Johns (NY) on December 6 for a right to go to the College Cup in Frisco, TX. Remember the Bucks are represented on the Indiana roster by Lake Orion native Billy Weaver, so thats a plus.

As has become common practice, I would like to congratulate the UM/Bucks seniors on great college careers, those players would be Mike Holody, Alex Morisset, Jake Stacy, Santos Perez and Steve Bonnell. Only Mauro Fuzetti has a year of eligibility left. Best of luck to all of you.

Others still alive...

Also of note, Bucks midfielder Luke Norman came on as a sub today and scored a goal in #1 seeded Wake Forest's 7-0 thrashing of Dartmouth. With the win the Demon Deacons will host South Florida on a date TBD in the NCAA Elite 8...

Lets also not forget midfielder Nate Jafta of Lindsey Wilson who will take on Mt. Vernon Nazarene tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 pm in the NAIA National Tournament in Fresno, CA. Also at that tournament is the aforementioned Tino Scicluna, now the head coach of Madonna University in Livonia. Scicluna's team will face Rio Grande College (OH) earlier in the day at 11:30 AM.

And finally...

If you're getting sick of hearing from myself and Kyle, have no worries, we'll have better blog posts from more interesting people later in the week. Tell your friends.

Hope everyone had a good holiday and avoids a case of the Monday's tomorrow.

-Jeff Crandall
DoC